OBJECTIVES: The long term objectives of this project are to make child rearing more enjoyable for parents and to increase the social and cognitive competence of young children through more effective use of well child visits in primary care settings. As a preliminary step, this project examines the effectiveness over time of approaches to parent education in different practice settings (group versus solo, use of nurse practitioners versus no use). The design is longitudinal following children up to age thirty months. Outcome measures include how much mothers learn about child development the number of reported concerns about and conflicts with the child, the amount of "positive contact" reported by mothers in their interactions with their child, and the child's behavior pattern and developmental status. This study is designed to test the following specific hypothesis: (1) Mothers will learn more about child development if they receive their well child care from: (a) practices among developmentally trained nurse practitioners to conduct some well child visits; (b) physicians who spend more effort on educating parents about child development. (2) Mothers with more knowledge about child development will, when compared to other mothers: (a) have fewer concerns about and conflicts with their child and feel their child is easier to rear; (b) spend more time in "positive contact" with their child; (c) have children functioning at a more advanced level of social and cognitive development.